Electronic structure regulation in medium-entropy CoNiFeSe enabling efficient and durable oxygen evolution...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Developing efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial for sustainable energy technologies.
• Understanding the electronic structure-performance relationship in medium-entropy materials is challenging but essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate and characterize a novel medium-entropy metal selenide (CoFeNiSe) for OER.
• To investigate the electronic structure and its correlation with catalytic performance.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of medium-entropy CoFeNiSe via selenylation of trimetallic hydroxide precursors.
• Electrocatalytic testing in 1 M KOH to evaluate OER activity and kinetics.
• Experimental and theoretical studies to analyze electronic structure and multimetallic electron interactions.

Main Results:

• The synthesized CoFeNiSe demonstrated excellent OER activity with a low overpotential (268 mV at 10 mA cm⁻²) and a Tafel slope (53.33 mV dec⁻¹).
• Performance surpassed entropy-poor binary and unary selenide counterparts.
• Electronic structure analysis revealed optimized valency and d-band center due to multimetallic interactions.

Conclusions:

• Medium-entropy CoFeNiSe is a highly efficient and durable electrocatalyst for OER.
• Electronic structure modulation via multimetallic interactions is key to enhancing catalytic performance.
• This study provides insights for designing advanced entropy-rich electrocatalysts for green energy applications.